In Our Time

Chapter XIV

Summary

Maera was lying still on the ground. The blood on him felt warm and sticky. The bull kept hitting him, sometimes with its head, sometimes with its horns. Finally, someone stopped the bull. A few men picked Maera up and carried him to the doctor. Maera could hear the shouting from the grandstand. Maera felt like things got bigger and bigger, then smaller and smaller. That happened again. After that, everything ran faster and faster. Then he died.

Commentary

To show what World War I and its aftermath were really like, Hemingway must show gore and death. By delivering these from the perspective of the man dying, Hemingway includes the audience in the sick feeling of bleeding to death. At the same time, the crowds kept cheering and calling, which makes both Maera and the reader understand how little the masses care about an individual death, both in bullfighting and in war.